Covid LIVE: Kerala clocks 7,540 new cases, 259 deaths in last 24 hrs

Live news updates: The world is on track for disastrous levels of global heating despite carbon-cutting pledges from governments at the UN COP26 summit, say analysts.

6:02 PM

China says 'open' for talks with Dalai Lama to discuss his future but not Tibet

China on Wednesday said it is "open" for talks with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to discuss his "future" but not any issues related to Tibet, PTI reported.

 

Reports from Tokyo said the Dalai Lama while speaking at an online press conference hosted by the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday said, "I prefer to remain here in India, peacefully," praising the country as a centre of religious harmony.

 

The 86-year-old Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader said he has no particular plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and expressed his wish to visit the Himalayan homeland to meet old friends.

6:01 PM

NASA, SpaceX set to launch space station's next crew to orbit

5:21 PM

Why Modi govt is not forming JPC for Rafale probe: Baghel

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday questioned the Union government's silence over "corruption" in the Rafale fighter jet deal and asked why it has not formed a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the issue, PTI reported.

5:20 PM

Expect Centre to continue vaccination programme, supply of Covid-19 vaccines: HC

The Delhi High Court Wednesday said it expected the Centre to continue the National Vaccination Programme and supply of vaccines against COVID-19 as per its policy, PTI reported.

 

The Centre told a bench headed by Chief Justice D N Patel, hearing a plea seeking supply of COVID-19 vaccines at reduced rates, that it was providing free of cost vaccines to all states and Union Territories.

 

Central government lawyer Anurag Ahluwalia said that pursuant to the National Vaccination Programme, all states and UTs were giving free COVID-19 vaccines to all the people above 18 years at government centres.

5:02 PM

TB patients got unhindered support despite pandemic constraints: MoS Health

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India has managed to scale up access to free rapid molecular diagnostics and treatment for tuberculosis while financial and nutritional support to affected patients continued without any hindrance, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said on Tuesday, PTI reported.

 

Efforts made by the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) led to significant improvements in time-to-diagnosis, treatment adherence and outcomes, Pawar said as she chaired the brainstorming session on "Strategies for Ending TB by 2025", a Health Ministry statement said.

5:01 PM

Chandigarh: MLA from Bathinda Rural joins Congress

4:30 PM

Police disperse crowd thronging Yamuna Ghat for Chhath Puja

Police and administrative officials on Wednesday stopped scores of devotees thronging the ghats along the Yamuna river in Delhi for Chhath festivities, citing DDMA orders prohibiting celebrations along the river bank in view of COVID-19, PTI reported.

 

A crowd gathered at the Yamuna Ghat near Kalindi Kunj in the morning was dispersed by police and district officials, and people were re-directed towards designated spots to observe the rituals.

 

The city government has set up 800 makeshift ghats across Delhi for devotees to perform Chhath rituals.

4:28 PM

EU regulator evaluating Moderna shot for children ages 5-11

The European Union's drug regulator said Wednesday that it has started evaluating whether to authorise Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a decision that could significantly open up COVID-19 vaccination across the continent for young children, AP reported.

 

The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency already is evaluating the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech for use in the 5-11 age group. In a statement on Wednesday, the EMA said it anticipates making a recommendation about Moderna's vaccine in about two months, unless more data or analysis are needed.

 

4:02 PM

Non-bailable warrant issued against former Mumbai police commissioner

4:00 PM

Dalai Lama says China's leaders 'don't understand' diversity

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama says China's leaders don't understand the variety of different cultures and that the ruling Communist Party's penchant for tight social control can be harmful, AP reported.

 

The 86-year-old Buddhist monk on Wednesday also said he wished to remain home in India, where he has lived since 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, rather than get involved in the complicated politics" between China, run by the officially atheist Communist Party, and strongly Buddhist Taiwan.

 

Speaking at an online press conference hosted by the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents Club, the Dalai Lama said there were no particular plans to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and declined to comment on Xi's plans to remain in office for a third five-year term.

3:58 PM

Court allows actor Rhea Chakraborty's application to defreeze her bank account

3:30 PM

Cabinet gives nod to price support of Rs 17,408.8 cr to Cotton Corporation of India

3:27 PM

Union Cabinet approves mechanism for procurement of ethanol

3:15 PM

Cabinet approves restoration and continuation of MPLADS, says Thakur

3:02 PM

Hubble to begin science observations again

The Hubble team successfully recovered the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument and it has started taking science observations once again, after facing a glitch, IANS reported.

 

On October 23, the joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency, the science instruments on Hubble Space Telescope issued error codes unexpectedly, indicating the loss of a specific synchronisation message. As a result, the science instruments entered a safe mode configuration on October 25, while NASA continued investigating.

 

"The camera was selected as the first instrument to recover as it faces the fewest complications should a lost message occur," NASA said.